This invention relates to the partial replacement of the caseinates present in imitation cheese products, such as cheddar, processed American and especially mozzarella, by selected edible modified starches.
Early attempts to reduce cheese costs led to the development of cheese analogs in which vegetable fat replaced the more costly milk fat. Such analogs were usually manufactured by traditional methods from skim milk containing dispersed vegetable fats and were generally referred to as "filled" cheeses.
Later economic incentives and technical advances led to the development of fabricated cheese analogs manufactured fundamentally from casein or its derivatives, vegetable fats or oils, salts, acids, and flavorings. Since casein derivatives are legally defined as nondairy ingredients, the fabricated analogs were referred to as "imitation" cheeses.
Imitation cheese products include very high-moisture content cheeses such as cream cheese; high moisture content cheeses such as blue cheese and mozzarella, the latter accounting for a major portion of the casein-based imitation cheese market; medium-moisture cheeses, such as cheddar and provolone; low-moisture cheeses, such as romano and parmesan; and pasteurized processed cheeses such as American cheese, cheese spreads and cheese products. These imitation cheese products provide the flavor and functionality of natural cheese at a reduced cost and, in addition, are lower both in calories and cholesterol since the animal fat has been replaced by vegetable fat.
Sodium, potassium, and calcium caseinates, as well as those salts generated in situ by treating acid casein and rennet casein with the appropriate alkali, are used in the preparation of imitation cheese products. Besides providing a major protein source, the caseinates, alone or in combination, possess unique setting, textural and emulsification properties that make them ideal, and their moderately low viscosity permits their use at high solids.
The world supply of casein and caseinates, however, appears to have reached its maximum output. The current high cost and uncertain future availability have become a major concern to food processors. For these reasons, the processors have been trying to find a readily available caseinate substitute, preferably a low cost substitute, to partially or totally replace the caseinates in imitation cheese products. Some attempts have been made to utilize dry vegetable protein isolates (e.g. soy isolates) as replacements. The isolates lack the functionality of the caseinates and have generally only been useful as extenders. The isolates have to be specially treated to provide cheeses with sufficient melt (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,349,576 issued Sept. 14, 1982 to W. F. Lehnhardt et al.) and even then severe shearing during the cheese preparation will substantially reduce the melt value. A recent article in Food Processing (October 1981, pp. 28-29) discloses that a protein mixture (25% casein, 25% soy flour, 25% wheat gluten, and 25% alfalfa protein) is being used with some success in imitation mozzarella cheese; however, the final product does not provide " all desirable characteristics, including flavor".
Thus, there is still a need for a readily available caseinate replacement which will provide the gelling and emulsion-stabilizing properties required during the cheese preparation and which will still provide cheese products having a desirable flavor and textural properties (i.e. especially gel, melt, and shredding and slicing characteristics) comparable to the caseinate-based imitation cheeses.
Flours and starches have been used in various cheese products as thickeners and/or binders as well as to improve specific properties. They have not, however, been used as caseinate replacements to provide the properties typically supplied by the caseinates.
In natural cheese products, for example, cyclodextrin has been added to increase moisture retention and storage life (Jap. Kokai Tokyo Koho 81 75,060); phosphorylated starch (about 2%) has been used as a thickener in blends of Cheshire and Emmenthal cheese to provide a nonstringy product (French Pat. No. 1,570,860); aqueous corn starch mixtures (in place of the previously used milk or butter) have been blended with melted ripe cheese to give a stable soft food product having the consistency of butter (French Pat. No. 1,566,665); starches have been used in processed cheese products prepared from natural cheese, milk powder and other ingredients (Food Engineering, November 1980, p. 25); and pregelatinized corn, potato and tapioca starches have been used as stabilizers (against the deleterious influences of freezing and thawing) in cheese cake and cheese pie fillings (U.S. Pat. No. 3,666,493 issued May 30, 1972 to J. A. Bluemake). In addition, potato starch (3-6%) has been used in admixture with a heated whey solution (65.degree. C.) as a coating to improve the general appearance of hard cheeses (Pol. No. 54,548).
In cheese analogs and simulated cheese products, for example, corn starch hydrolysates (e.g. corn syrup) have been used to bind the water and prevent or retard its loss, as well as to add gloss, palatability, and body texture, to cheese foods based on vegetable oils, animal or vegetable proteins, and emulsifying metal salts (U.S. Pat. No. 3,310,406 issued Mar. 21, 1967 to D. A. Webster); ungelatinized flours (e.g. 3% tapioca flour) have been added, as optional ingredients (0-5%), to a caseinate-containing cheese substitute to aid in the firmness of the cheese substitutes resembling pasta filata or cheddar cheese (Austrian Pat. No. 335,830; Ger. Offen. No. 2,411,945; U.S. Pat. No. 3,922,374 issued Nov. 25, 1975 to R. J. Bell et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,413 issued Aug. 1, 1978 to J. D. Wynn et al.); flour and hydrogenated vegetable oils have been used as the matrix in intermediate moisture (about 12%), high flavor-impact cheese analogs containing dehydrated cheese and artificial flavorings which are prepared by homogeneously mixing the components at low temperature and extruding the mass to form rods which are further processed into cubes, strips or grated particles (Food Product Development, June 1980, pp. 42-43); gelatinized high amylose starches and their derivatives have been used as binders for various edible protein pieces in integral simulated cheese products containing no fat (U.S. Pat. No. 3,836,677 issued Sept. 17, 1974 to J. A. Freck et al.); and pregelatinized starches (e.g. corn, wheat, waxy maize and tapioca) have been used in shelf-stable, high protein extruded cheese products prepared from a mixture of cheese, starch, high protein binding agent, water, sugar or sugar equivalents and optionally 1-7% of an edible oil (U.S. Pat. No. 3,741,774 issued June 26, 1973 to M. P. Burkwall).
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide edible modified starches with gelling and emulsion-stabilizing properties for use as partial caseinate replacements in imitation cheeses, especially mozzarella cheese.